Nick Haisman-Smith

Executive Director of the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

Workshop Information:

This session shares practical leadership strategies for building teacher belonging as a core aspect of adult SEL and school culture. Grounded in real educator stories and current research, it offers tools and structures that school leaders can bring back to their teams to strengthen connection, trust, and retention.

Fostering teacher belonging is a multi-faceted, ongoing commitment—one that sits at the heart of emotionally healthy, inclusive schools. When educators feel seen, valued, and connected, they are more likely to collaborate, stay in the profession, and model the social-emotional capacities we seek to cultivate in students. 

But sustaining educator belonging requires more than wellness initiatives or surface-level morale boosters—it demands intentional design, shared language, and embedded systems of support.

This interactive session explores how schools can intentionally cultivate teacher belonging as a vital expression of adult SEL, organizational health, and inclusive leadership.

Drawing on new qualitative research and doctoral findings from Nick Haisman-Smith—this session highlights what teachers say supports or hinders their sense of belonging, and offers practical, replicable tools for school leaders and teams.

Participants will engage in hands-on, reflective, and design-focused activities throughout, including:

1. Concept Mapping Belonging: A creative, research-informed tool that invites participants to explore and visualize their own experiences of professional belonging. This method can be used to facilitate dialogue and insight within faculty groups.

2. Case Study Exploration: Grounded in teacher narratives, participants will explore patterns of inclusion, identity, leadership, and connection that influence belonging across different school contexts.

3. SEL-Aligned Practices: Attendees will experience and learn activities that support adult trust-building, communal care, and positive communication—practices that strengthen both culture and collaboration.

The session will introduce and explore several key dimensions of teacher belonging, including:

- Positive Relationships with Colleagues: The foundation of belonging is often laid in daily interactions. Participants will have the chance to explore and share their own strategies to nurture trust, communication, and restore fractured connections when conflict arises.

- Values Clarity and Alignment: When teachers feel alignment between their own values and those of school leadership, it reinforces professional identity. We’ll explore how schools can surface and strengthen this alignment.

- Support Systems: Structures like mentoring, coaching, and peer learning communities offer psychological safety and resilience. Participants will reflect on their existing supports and identify areas for growth.

- Teacher Voice and Agency: Shared decision-making and leadership inclusion are critical to building belonging. We’ll examine how voice can be elevated across teams and systems.

- Identity and Culture Affirmation: Belonging deepens when teachers feel their identities are acknowledged and respected. This session offers tools to help schools become more identity-affirming and culturally inclusive.

Ideal for school and division leaders, DEIB leads, coaches, and instructional leaders, this session offers evidence-based insight and practical tools that participants can take back to their teams. The facilitation style is collaborative and experiential, designed to support both personal reflection and collective visioning.

Session Outcomes:

Rooted in current research (Zhou et al., 2024; Cann et al., 2023) and shaped by real stories from diverse educators, this session supports leaders to move beyond intentions and toward sustainable, systemic approaches to educator belonging. 

Participants will leave with actionable ideas, a deeper understanding of belonging as adult SEL, and a renewed commitment to building schools where both students and staff can flourish.

1. Identify key dimensions of teacher belonging and their impact on staff wellbeing and school climate.

2. Experience and adapt SEL-aligned tools to strengthen trust, connection, and reflective dialogue among educators.

3. Design practical strategies to enhance teacher voice, identity affirmation, and values alignment within school systems.

Biography:

Nick Haisman-Smith (he/him) is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Institute for Social and Emotional Learning and a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bristol, focusing on SEL and Educator Belonging. Nick supports schools and districts around the world to activate evidence-led best practices for SEL. At the core of his vision for SEL in education are the beliefs that SEL must be rooted in equity and school culture, and that schools must take a whole-community approach to make SEL sustainable. Prior to co-founding IFSEL in 2009, Nick taught upper-elementary through to high school in the UK, South Africa, and the USA.

He has presented and given keynotes at conferences around the world, including The Sunday Times Festival of Education (UK), Talks at Google (UK), Practical Pedagogies (Germany), Future of Education Now (China), National Association of Independent Schools (USA) and the CASEL SEL Exchange (USA). He is a Zinc Inflection Fellow, and Member of the British Psychological Society. Nick’s latest publication is “Building and Sustaining a Whole-Community Approach to Equity-Rooted SEL.” in Social-Emotional Learning: Strategies, Development and Educational Impact, edited by S. Riley Ordu, 105–124. New York: Nova Science Publishers.